In what will be a boost for payments, UK is eliminating cheques by 2018. Finextra The UK’s major banks have voted to stop clearing cheques by 31 October 2018, bringing to an end the 350 year old payment method. Continue reading UK to eliminate cheques by 2018
Jack Dorsey and colleagues have announced Square; a mobile payment acquiring terminal that is small enough to fit on a key fob, and works through any mobile phone with an earphone plug. First iteration works with the iphone, but it will work with blackberry and others. The common requirement appears to be a mobile device that accepts 3rd party apps, and has a standard earphone jack. The device and application acquires the data through conversion of sound into data, then transmits. The device is designed to replace the merchant terminal for small businesses, replace the monthly terminal fee, and replace … Continue reading The first genuine payment innovation for a while | Square
CapGemini have come out with their World Payments Report – 2009 [pdf 60 pages]. Lots of statistics, but the one that leapt out at me is this. Japan stands out as a growth leader, despite being a mature economy. Certainly their growth potential is large given the traditional consumer cash economy, but I have to look at the North American lowly 5% and wonder that lack of innovation in payments is not a driver. Certainly there remains lots of cash transactions to convert to payments but nominal innovation in the works to migrate to electronic. The report notes that cash … Continue reading Non Cash Growth as a barometer of Payment Innovation
India adopts a new rule for Banks [ht Payments news] that should have been voluntarily adopted years ago by all banks everywhere. I have always been a proponent for online alerts, but it makes eminent sense to make "card not present" alerts mandatory. India’s Mandate re: Stronger Authentication for Card Not Present Use | Payments News The rules require India’s banks to support two basic capabilities: A system of providing for additional authentication/validation based on information not visible on the cards for all on-line card not present transactions (e.g., Verified by Visa or MasterCard SecureCode) A system that provides "Online … Continue reading Indian Banks Adopt a Rule all Banks Need | security alterts
There is an enormous intelligence in this paragraph from Dave. It centres on the reality that with each transaction, a consumer is making a decision about their banking service. That service may be merely a payment card, or it may be a BarclaysBofALloyds Card. it doesn’t matter. What has really happened is that the product experience has transferred from the old view of product, the bank account, to the new view, which is the experience. The experience occurs at the ATM, the POS terminal, the online banking session, the iphone app (oops you haven’t got that!). The customer experience is … Continue reading Bring the banking experience forward to the transactional experience
This is an unusual but insightful new working paper released today, on what the Bank of Canada refer to, in a somewhat quirky fashion, as “means of payment”. The survey and analysis compares use of cash, debit and credit. What is insightful, is that after establishing the consumer view on the three payment methods it tries to get at why people feel this way. When I asked Dave Birch the other day – what is the right strategy of banks and payments providers to increase their volumes? …. his answer was simple – increase share by taking it from cash. … Continue reading Report: “The Role of Convenience and Risk in Consumers’ Means of Payment” | Bank of Canada
Today I had the pleasure of a chat with Dave while he visited Toronto on business. Inevitably the conversation weaved in and around banks, payments, and what is wrong with both. As we chatted it is evident there is much change going on in the world of financial services, and that change may or may not be as expected. It appears banks are not innovating much anywhere at the moment as predicted, while on the payments front there is a host of activity and very different activity in many parts of the world. This fits with my general theme of … Continue reading A chat with Dave Birch | whirlwind review of changes in financial services
Not often we see a plausible alternative in the payments space from banks, but here is one in the works. German and French banks push ahead with new debit card scheme | finextra Bundesbank board member Hans Georg Fabritius told the conference that a Visa and MasterCard duopoly is “an unsatisfying vision” for political and economic reasons. However, he warned that while the French and German project, called Monnet, is “promising” it is only a concept and he would want other countries to join in. Continue reading German and French banks push ahead with new debit card scheme | Finextra
Banks continue to be challenged by disintermediation from telco’s and here is another example, this time in Japan. The service will launch 21st July, and allow sending up to $200 with only the payee’s phone number being required. An interesting tweak is the ability to have the money deposited with DOCOMO under the guise of a credit to your account, however this is deposit taking by another name. DOCOMO to launch mobile payments service Customers of DOCOMO’s i-mode™ mobile Internet service on the FOMA™ 3G network will be able to remit up to 20,000 yen (about 208 U.S. dollars) per … Continue reading DOCOMO to Launch Mobile Remittance Service
We were just hit today with a case of fraud that affected my family personally, and it just validates my view that the security of our payments networks is a problem being swept under the carpet. Every day, all banks contact thousands of customers to cancel their debit card because it was or may have been compromised. This is a well kept secret, and has not made mainstream press yet. In our situation we actually were the card compromised, and I know enough about the card usage to narrow down the location of the compromise which is why this one … Continue reading 6 years is too long for elimination of mag strip debit cards
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